Game Recaps

Title on the line in IEL tussle

A league championship and the top seed to the state-qualifying regional tournament goes to the winner of Round 2 when the Coeur d’Alene girls basketball team visits Post Falls on Friday.

Coeur d’Alene stunned then No. 1-ranked Post Falls 47-41 in the first game earlier this month. Now the tables are reversed. CdA (15-4 overall, 4-1 league) is ranked atop the 5A heap and Post Falls (17-1, 4-1) is second.

Tipoff is at 7:45.

In the first game, CdA surprised by opening the game with a 12-0 run. It was a hole the Trojans never completely dug out of.

“We need to get off to a better start,” Post Falls coach Marc Allert said. “You’ve got to give Coeur d’Alene a lot of credit. They took us out of a lot of the things we wanted to do. It’s going to be a battle all the way around.”

The Trojans, who trailed by 11 points at halftime, pulled within four by the end of the third quarter and drew even at 39-39 when Hallie Gennett made a 3-pointer with 2:32 to go. PF was never able to take a lead.

Down to the Bone

Both are tied for second at 7-1 behind league-leading Mead. U-Hi, ranked No. 1 in the state in 3A, is favored.

“I think he (Don Owen, U-Hi coach) has the best team in Spokane,” said Owen’s brother, John, the CV coach.

Don Owen expects a tightly contested match.

“It’s a balanced dual,” he said. “They’ve got six guys who are pretty tough. We’re favored in about eight matches. It’s one of those things where emotion plays a big role, mainly because it’s a rivalry. We’re probably favored on paper but it’s not a done deal at all.”

This ’n that

The Central Valley and Gonzaga Prep boys have played twice with two distinctly different results. The Bears handled the Bullpups 58-40 in December and G-Prep bounced back Tuesday to even things with a 62-46 win.

They will most likely meet in the district championship. The top two 4A teams advance directly to the district final. G-Prep coach Matty McIntyre said if he were a fan he wouldn’t miss the next game. “I wouldn’t even try to sneak in,” McIntyre said. “I’d pay the money.”

So what will a third game between CV and G-Prep be like? “I’m 100 percent sure the (third game) will be more competitive than the first two,” McIntyre said.

• The Brewster girls, who fell to Reardan in the State 2B championship game last year, moved up to 1A and are cruising along at 17-0 ranked second behind another team cruising along, Freeman, also 17-0.

According to Doug Flanagan of the Wenatchee World newspaper, Brewster is more than a one-girl team. Sure, the Bears are led by junior guard Chandler Smith, who is being heavily recruited. But Brewster has depth. Other big contributors are senior point guard Becky Mae Taylor, who cracked the 1,000-point mark her junior year, and Brette Boesel, who was an all-Caribou Trail League pick last year.